What Black Parents Think About How Black History Is Taught

   First, as a Black person, it’s about learning, appreciating, and being inspired by the stories, achievements, and culture of Black folks worldwide throughout time. We use the term ‘history,’ but it’s also about celebrating Black excellence in its various forms. Secondly, it’s important to me personally to present a more complete narrative regarding the cultural and historical contributions of Black folks. Blackness is dope, Black people do dope things, but you wouldn’t always know it looking at mainstream media.

   Black history means more than just slavery. Black history encompasses the entire African diasporic experience. It incorporates all the rich and diverse cultural, ethnic, religious/spiritual, social, economic, and political manifestations akin to Black diasporans abroad and in America.

   Black history is embedded in, and is a significant part of, American history. African Americans built this country and created the wealth that some populations of this country enjoy now. It’s important for every student in the United States to be knowledgeable of Black history and see it as integral to American history.

   It’s very important because my kids need to know the contributions of Black people to our society. They need to be able to see themselves in the history books and be inspired by unsung heroes. People like Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Ida B. Wells, Thurgood Marshall, etc.

   It is important for my child to learn the accuracy of Black history in schools, because the intent of the curriculum is to prepare him with the foundational learnings to be prepared for life after K-12. Black history is equally as important as math, writing, science, etc.

   We weren’t learning it in schools, so we make it a point to learn it at home. I want my son to know more than individual heroes, that our story is not one only of enslavement and that he can do anything he wants. He can’t learn that in a racist school that hates him. We have to do it at home, in our community, and everywhere we go.

   Black history is a part of American history—can’t teach one without the other. Representation does matter more than you think in the moment. And when this question has come up over the years, the quote I hear in the background is that those who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it.

   I think it is important to let students know of the vast contributions that Blacks have made to the world, from all over the world, and how they have been treated. I also think that Black history should start in Africa. History is history, so I don’t believe any part of it should be omitted. History is not always pretty, just like life itself now is not always pretty.

   Overall, ‘how’ Black history is taught is more important than ‘what is being taught.’ I’ve been in spaces where schools fetishize Black pain, reduce history to fun facts or guilt trip messaging. In general, [I would like to see] more higher-order-thinking activities beyond rote memorization or watching videos. I would love to see schools discuss the origins of race, racial identity development, and their impact on contemporary society, especially in the middle [and] high [school] levels. Students are bombarded with messages of race/ethnicity/culture, but understanding of those terms is often assumed and not explored. I would also like to see folks discuss the cultural impact of Blackness throughout time. The Black experience is broad, varied, and storied in ways many folks don’t learn about in K-12 spaces.

   Black history that needs to be taught in schools should start with the African presence in America before slavery. It should also emphasize the intellectual genius of Africanity in America and its early influence on STEM fields. Black history in schools should include the Black contributions during wartime, as well as influential writers (before, during, and after the Harlem Renaissance) that contributed to American political and social thought.

   I, unequivocally, believe the entire truth needs to be taught. The inhumanity and brutality need to be shared. When countries want to cleanse themselves from past atrocities, they publicly face the truth and systematically keep the truth in the forefront. That is the history we need in schools. Not this whitewashed, idealistic history. The current curriculum makes school a farce.

   How do you think this lesson may make African American students feel in your classroom?

   Are [teachers] causing harm? Are they humanizing Black people? Are they teaching more than oppression?

   I can only speak from what I remember from grade school—I think I’d rather see my children matriculate through school with more positive images—slavery was most impressive and memorable, how do we teach that without making it be the only thing that matters.

   Consider removing your opinion and inserting the truth [and] the implications of the truth. Acknowledge that America needs Black people because it was built by Black people. Learn about current Black leaders in all industries: Black Nobel laureates, engineers, psychologists, animators, etc. Do some real research.

   I want them to consider and mitigate their own biases. A teacher’s affect and assumptions can absolutely derail a lesson and/or unit of study.

   I think it’s absolutely ridiculous and purely a distraction. … This is an organized effort to keep America’s children ignorant and biased.

   It’s about fear. [These politicians] are aware of the history of white supremacy and the violence that has and still accompanies that viewpoint. They are fearful of their constituents and their concern about blame, accountability, and their children becoming anti-racism co-conspirators. People need to stand up, inform, and advocate for equity, no matter what the cost.

   I went to an all-Black elementary school that was very much centered around the Black experience. We sung ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ at every assembly, learned basic Swahili, read a ton of Black authors, etc. Spaces like this exist to this day. Educators in spaces like this don’t care what lawmakers say, and their children are better for it. I feel bad for the children that are in predominantly white spaces where these laws may hold more weight, who will get a sterilized understanding of American history.